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Excess In Texas: Lone Star Businesses Get A $19 Billion Leg Up

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Five stories that have North Texas talking: Tax incentive games, Apple store heists, stolen Cowboys records and more. 

It’s a familiar scene. Boldface Dallas names star in a story about Texas-sized riches. But forget Dallas (for the moment, at least). This time it’s the New York Times, which reports that Texas doles out more business incentives than any other state in the nation -- $19 billion a year. Louise Story traces how Gov. Rick Perry has spent money luring business and how schools in Texas have been affected.

Very Tinsel: Preston Hollow’s G. Brint Ryan is cast as the tax consultant with bronze statues of his daughters on the terrace where he hosted a recent fundraiser. Among his clients are Neiman Marcus and ExxonMobil. And he’s on a national commission evaluating Texas’ economic development efforts, set to meet with lawmakers in January.

  • The ol’ hole-in-the-tent exit trick we learned from Moonrise Kingdom can work for entry too. Except you definitely do not want to knock a hole in the side of the Apple store on Knox and steal computers, which someone(s) apparently did on Saturday. Can’t cover that with a poster. [Dallas Observer’s Unfair Park]
  • Tony Romo intercepted the Cowboys’ touchdown pass record formerly held by Troy Aikman by nailing three scores on Sunday. The 38-33 win against the Eagles keeps Dallas’ team afloat as playoffs approach. [AP via Huffington Post]
  • Miss the Perot Museum of Science and Nature opening Saturday? It made good on promises of epic entry, as in there were acrobats rapelling from the building, etc. A hypnotizing video of the aerialists:


 

  • Our own Sam Baker does his part to make sure you holiday partiers aren’t overserved -- in the caloric sense. Check out this week’s “Vital Signs” for the depressing amount of calories in barside staples, and how you can avoid them without missing a “cheers.” [KERA News]